The 4 Resources Model (and then some)


Code breaker
  • visual codes
    • page layout
    • line
    • colour
    • frames
    • viewpoint
    • position (of the viewer and of characters/objects)
    • illustrative media used
    • genre

text participant

text user

text analyser

... aesthetic transformer ...

Literacy is about access, apprenticeship into institutions and resources, discourses and texts. Literacy needs a range of practices. The 4 resources model presents possible practices which work with students to develop their skills in linguistics and cultural textual practices through adopting the defined roles in analysing the text.

Some of the things to consider when looking at picture books are that
  • the verbal and visual elements often contradict
  • meaning is constructed from the juxtaposition of the text
  • the distinction between popular and high culture is blurred
  • there are blurred boundaries between genre categories
  • blurred relationship between the author, narrator, illustrator, reader
  • multiple pathways
  • literary traditions / conventions subverted
  • intertextuality often explicit, metatextual (Derouet, 2010)

Direct quote below is from Jennifer Asha,Teaching with Visual Texts, retrieved from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Teaching+with+visual+texts-a0195013324, 19th October, 2010 (COPYRIGHT 2009 Australian Literacy Educators' Association) :

"The facets of visual literacy Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image. Visual literacy is based on the idea that pictures can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading.

With the aim of describing the skills of a visually literate reader I have incorporated the principles of the Four Resources Model with the explicit teaching of visual grammar. By attempting to understand how visual texts are read and comprehended my teaching of visual literacy is guided. No single category stands alone and they shouldn't be viewed as a hierarchical list. However the importance of metalanguage is notable in each of the four elements that follow. "
   Breaking the visual code
   using the language of the visuals, the
   metalanguage specific to visual images.
 
   Making meaning from visual texts
   recognising visual elements in texts, naming and
   describing aspects of the visual text using
   metalanguage.
 
   Visual Text User
   using knowledge of visual elements to create new
   visual and verbal texts.
 
   Visual Text Analyst
   recognising the purpose behind visual choices,
   recognising that visual images are created by an
   illustrator with a purpose to generate a response
   from the viewer in order to serve certain interests.